Pygmalion and Galatea: An Original Mythological Comedy is a blank verse play by W. S. Gilbert in three acts based on the Pygmalion story.
Gilbert's story sees the sculptor producing many copies in the image of his wife, Cynisca. She at first encourages his interest in one of these statues, Galatea. Cynisca is often away, and she doesn't want her husband to be bored. When the statue comes to life, however, matters become complex, as she falls in love with her creator. Galatea is born so innocent that she appears wayward and disrupts the lives she touches during her one day in the flesh. Under the fire of Cynisca's jealousy, and seeing the difficulty in which she has placed Pygmalion, Galatea decides that her original state was happier, and turns back into a statue.
Pygmalion and His Gal (a Dear!); Or, The Celebrated Living-stone of Ancient Athens (No Relation to the Doctor) : An Original, Mythological, Operatic, and Extremely Erratic Burlesque
Melbourne
:
1873
Z859016
1873
single work
musical theatre
burlesque
fantasy
humour
Written largely in rhymed verse, this adaptation of W. S. Gilbert's comic drama Pygmalion and Galatea (1871) was described in advertising as 'an original, mythological, operatic and extremely erratic burlesque'. The Age theatre critic writes of Walch's version : 'The exigencies of [the] limited cast entail some deviation from the original plot... as in Gilbert's adaptation of the mythological tale. Otherwise the comedy, as recently played in the Theatre Royal [Melbourne], is pretty closely followed. The author has availed himself of the opportunity to hit off, more or less cleverly, the local celebrities and the leading follies of the day, and the dialogue bristles with puns whose chief merit lies in their pure audacity' (1 April 1873, p2). One of the local personalities satirised was Marcus Clarke.
The story concerns Pygmalion, a sculptor who is continually harassed by his wife, Cynisca. At the same time, however, she is flirting with a captain of the Royal Horse Hellenes. When the statue Pygmalion is sculpting comes to life and begins to flirt with him, all sorts of complications arise between the husband and wife. Eventually a voice from above deafens the pair and only releases them on the condition that they fix their marriage.
First produced at the Haymarket Theatre, London, on 9 December 1871. It ran for a 184 performances.
